A health insurance comparison in Switzerland compares the same legal cover at different premiums. On 29 September 2026, the Federal Office of Public Health set the average 2027 monthly premium at CHF 412, CHF 19.70 more than in 2026 (+5.0%). That figure is not your premium. Yours is calculated on Priminfo, with your locality, year of birth, deductible, accident cover and care model.
Policyholder ratings come after that, not before. A high service score does not say what you will pay in Geneva, Lausanne or Zurich. This article keeps the two apart: the official premium calculator, then the surveys published by Comparis (2 July 2026) and bonus.ch (August 2026). The health insurance page remains the advice page. This one is the method.
The same cover, different premiums
Basic health insurance is compulsory for people who live in Switzerland. The insurer must accept you, with no medical questionnaire, whatever your age or health. The benefits of compulsory health insurance are set by law. Two insurers do not sell two different kinds of medicine for the basic policy.
What changes is the price, and the path you must follow to use the cover. The price depends on the canton, the premium region, age (child, young adult, adult), the deductible, the model, whether accident is included, and the insurer. The path is the first contact required by the model: a practice, a phone line, an app or a pharmacy. Leaving that path can leave you with the bill, even when the treatment is in principle covered.
A useful comparison holds both threads. The first is numerical, public, and read on the federal calculator. The second is qualitative: reimbursement times, clarity of statements, how the service replies. Surveys measure the second. They do not replace the first.
What the FOPH published for 2027
The press release of 29 September 2026 is the figure to cite for the year ahead. The average monthly premium, all insured people together, rises to CHF 412. The FOPH obtains it by adding the premiums paid in Switzerland and dividing by the number of insured people. It is neither the lowest line on a comparison site, nor the premium of a Geneva adult with a CHF 300 deductible.
The age groups in that same release:
- Adults: CHF 487.60 a month, CHF 22.80 more (+4.9%).
- Young adults: CHF 338.80 a month, CHF 15.40 more (+4.8%).
- Children: CHF 128.10 a month, CHF 5.70 more (+4.6%).
The FOPH links the rise to the rise in compulsory health-insurance costs. In each canton, premiums must cover the expected costs. In 2025, costs rose by 5.3%. For 2026, the estimate is harder because of billing delays linked to TARDOC and outpatient flat rates. The FOPH expects a cost increase of 4.7% for 2026 and 5.0% for 2027. The causes it names are the number of treatments, medical technology and ageing. How often people fall ill stays relatively stable. The cost per sick person rises, and, since 2024, higher cantonal tariffs add to that.
Do not mix this series with the 1996-2024 curve in the article on how premiums have changed. That curve stops at observed data, then uses another method for the 2025 and 2026 estimates. To decide a change on 1 January 2027, the September 2026 release and the Priminfo calculator come before a historical average.
The 2026 policy is the one you are still paying. The comparison that matters now is the 2027 premium, which the insurer must send you by 31 October at the latest. Searching for 2026 health insurance in October does not reopen the past year. The deadline in front of you is the switch for the following year.
Calculate your premium on Priminfo
Premiums by insurer are not copied here. A national table, even a dated one, is wrong as soon as it ignores your postcode, your age and your deductible. The official calculation is the Priminfo 2027 premium calculator, run by the FOPH. The same site also offers the calculator in German and Italian.
The form asks, in this order: locality or postcode, year of birth, deductible, accident insurance, then your current insurer and model if you want them shown beside the results. You then choose the models to compare. From 2027, the boxes are Standard, FLEX, PRAXIS, TEL-DIG and PHARM. The FOPH grouped the old family-doctor model and the old HMO model under PRAXIS, and most phone-first models under TEL-DIG (written TEL_DIG in the technical note).
Read the result as an official quote for basic insurance, not as a ranking. Two lines can have the same legal cover and a large monthly gap, or the same price and a very different first contact. Also note the deductible on the line. Comparing a CHF 300 deductible with a CHF 2,500 deductible is not a comparison of two insurers. It is a comparison of two levels of cost you keep yourself.
Calculate my premium on Priminfo
Deductible and co-payment
The deductible is what you pay yourself each year before reimbursement. For an adult, the choice runs from CHF 300 to 2,500. The ordinary deductible is CHF 300. For a child, the choice runs from CHF 0 to 600. The official 2027 premium overview states that optional deductibles run from CHF 500 to 2,500 for adults and from CHF 100 to 600 for children. The steps are set out on the health insurance deductible page.
A higher deductible lowers the premium. It is useful only if you can pay care up to that amount without postponing treatment. After the deductible, the co-payment is 10% of covered costs, capped at CHF 700 a year for an adult and CHF 350 for a child. The most you should plan for is therefore not the deductible alone. For an adult at CHF 2,500, the cost-sharing ceiling is CHF 3,200, before the premium.
Changing deductible without changing insurer has its own deadlines, set out in the Priminfo 2027 overview. Lowering the deductible, or leaving one special model for another, must be requested in writing and reach the insurer by 30 November at the latest. Choosing a higher deductible can be announced until mid-December. The postmark is not enough. Receipt is what counts.
The 2027 care models
A limited-choice model commits you to going first through a designated contact. In return, the insurer may lower the premium. The reduction is not a discount on the care itself. The care stays what the law provides, if you follow the required path.
- Standard: no required first contact. At the same deductible, this is usually the highest premium.
- PRAXIS: the first contact is a designated practice, a family doctor or a medical centre. That practice refers you to a specialist.
- TEL-DIG: the first contact is by phone or online, a telemedicine centre or an app.
- PHARM: the first contact is a pharmacy that partners with the insurer.
- FLEX: you choose among several first contacts, for example a practice or telemedicine, or telemedicine or a pharmacy.
The cheapest model on Priminfo is the right choice only if you will actually use it. A TEL-DIG policy ignored at the first cold, or a PRAXIS policy whose practice is not the one you see, turns the premium saving into a refusal or a delay. Read the model conditions, not only the price line. Emergencies follow rules of their own in the contract. Check them before you sign, especially if you travel often or if a child is seen in several places.
Supplementary policies do not follow these categories. A private room, dental care, glasses or complementary medicine are judged separately, with a health questionnaire and other deadlines. That point is covered on the supplementary health insurance page. Cancelling the basic policy does not cancel a supplementary one.
Accident cover, yes or no
The accident box on the calculator changes the premium. If you are already covered by your employer’s accident insurance, in principle from 8 hours a week with the same employer, you can exclude accident from basic health insurance. Keeping both means paying twice for cover the law does not require in duplicate.
The reverse trap hits people without an employer, between jobs, or whose working time falls under the threshold. Accident cover must then come back into the basic policy, or a fall is covered neither by the employer nor by the insurer. When you compare, answer for your situation on 1 January, not for the situation of two years ago. If the household is mixed, run one calculation per person. Priminfo allows that.
The cancellation must arrive by 30 November
You can change basic insurer on 1 January even if your premium does not rise, including with an optional deductible or a limited-choice model. The insurer has until 31 October to tell you the new premium. The cancellation must reach the insurer by 30 November at the latest, during ordinary office hours. If that day is a Saturday, a Sunday or a public holiday, the last working day counts. A registered letter left in a post-office box is received only when it is collected. The FOPH advises sending it by registered post before mid-November, so you keep proof.
The cancellation has no effect if, on 31 December, you still owe premiums, cost shares or late interest that the insurer claimed by 30 November, plus any debt-collection costs. Pay that balance before you count on the switch.
Join the new insurer for the basic policy, so there is no gap on 1 January. The old insurer usually confirms the exit once the new affiliation is known. Keep both letters. For a supplementary policy, the deadline is often earlier, frequently receipt by 30 September for an exit on 31 December, but the general conditions decide. Do not copy the basic-policy calendar onto the supplementary policy.
Comparis scores, July 2026
On 2 July 2026, Comparis published its satisfaction label for basic health insurance. The Innofact institute surveyed online, in May 2026, a panel of 4,500 people in German-speaking Switzerland, French-speaking Switzerland and Ticino. Each person scores, from 1 to 6, value for money, quality and service, information and transparency, points of contact, then overall satisfaction. The published score is a weighted average. The silver label starts at 5.0, gold runs from 5.2 to 5.4, and platinum from 5.5. In 2026, no company in the survey received platinum.
For health insurers, the release writes precise scores for part of the 18 insurers assessed. The range it cites runs from 4.7 to 5.1. The detailed ranking places three insurers at 5.1 and others at 5.0 or 4.9. One sentence in the same text puts Aquilana back in the top of the range at 5.1, while the detailed ranking puts it at 5.0, down from 5.1 the year before. The table below follows the detailed ranking, not that sentence.
| Insurer | 2026 score | Previous year |
|---|---|---|
| Helsana | 5.1 | 5.1 |
| Swica | 5.1 | 5.1 |
| ÖKK | 5.1 | 5.1 |
| Aquilana | 5.0 | 5.1 |
| Concordia | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| EGK | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| KPT | 5.0 | 4.9 |
| Sana24 | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| Sanitas | 5.0 | 4.9 |
| Visana | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| Atupri | 4.9 | 5.0 |
| CSS | 4.9 | 4.9 |
| Sympany | 4.9 | 4.9 |
| Assura | 4.7 | not stated in the detail |
On the separate criteria, Comparis gives quality and service, information and transparency, and points of contact to Helsana, Swica and ÖKK. Swica is cited first for overall satisfaction. The gap between the highest published score (5.1) and the cited floor (4.7) is 0.4 points. No health insurer in this survey reaches gold. The reported difference in service is real, and narrow.
bonus.ch scores, August 2026
bonus.ch runs its own survey, with different questions. Its 2026 results page reports a survey in August 2026 of 5,534 insured people. The scale also runs from 1 to 6. bonus.ch calls 5.0 to 5.4 “good” and 5.5 to 6.0 “very good”. The national average it displays for 2026 is 5.1. The detailed criteria it publishes are clarity of information, handling of benefits and customer service. The overall score summarises them.
The comparison table published with that survey, overall scores:
| Insurer | Overall score 2026 |
|---|---|
| Aquilana | 5.4 |
| Swica | 5.4 |
| EGK | 5.3 |
| ÖKK | 5.3 |
| Agrisano | 5.2 |
| Atupri | 5.2 |
| Avenir (Groupe Mutuel) | 5.2 |
| Concordia | 5.2 |
| CSS | 5.2 |
| Galenos | 5.2 |
| Helsana | 5.2 |
| Mutuel (Groupe Mutuel) | 5.2 |
| Philos (Groupe Mutuel) | 5.2 |
| sana24 | 5.2 |
| Sanitas | 5.2 |
| sodalis | 5.2 |
| Visana | 5.2 |
| Vivao Sympany | 5.2 |
| KPT | 5.1 |
| Assura | 4.9 |
On the CSS detail, which the same page publishes as a reading example, clarity of information is 5.1, handling of benefits is 5.3 and customer service is 5.1, for an overall 5.2. In 2024 the CSS overall score was 5.1, then 5.2 in 2025 and in 2026. A stable score says nothing about the 2027 premium in your region.
An earlier bonus.ch survey, run in May 2025 with more than 4,500 people, measured something else: the intention to switch. 17% of respondents had changed insurer for 2025. 32% were considering it for 2026, including 32% in French-speaking Switzerland and 66% in Italian-speaking Switzerland. Those percentages describe a mood, not the quality of a brand in 2026. They are not added to the August 2026 scores.
What a score does not measure
The two tables do not disagree because one of them is false. They do not ask the same questions, on the same dates, of the same sample. At Comparis, Helsana, Swica and ÖKK are at 5.1 and CSS at 4.9. At bonus.ch, Swica is at 5.4, and Helsana and CSS at 5.2. Assura is at the bottom of both publications, at 4.7 and then 4.9. The middle of the order moves. A gap of 0.1 or 0.2 points is smaller than the premium gap Priminfo often shows between two insurers in the same canton, at the same deductible and model.
A score also does not measure:
- the 2027 premium for your postcode;
- whether you will follow the model on the day you call a specialist without the first contact;
- acceptance of a supplementary policy, which can be refused;
- a reserve or a waiting period on a supplementary policy you already hold;
- the medical quality of hospitals, which does not depend on the insurer for basic cover.
Finwise does not republish these scores as a league table. They document what insured people reported about service. Choosing an insurer for the basic policy remains first a choice of premium, deductible and model, read on Priminfo, then a choice of service when two close offers appear.
The order of comparison
To compare Swiss health insurance without mixing the subjects, the order is six checks.
- Open the Priminfo 2027 calculator. Enter the locality, year of birth, a deductible you can actually pay, and accident cover for your situation on 1 January.
- Tick Standard, then the models you are willing to follow. Drop a model whose first contact is not your doctor, your phone or your pharmacy.
- Compare only lines with the same deductible and the same accident answer. Otherwise you are comparing your exposure to costs, not the insurer.
- Among close premiums, read the Comparis scores of July 2026 and the bonus.ch scores of August 2026. A tenth of a point does not offset a clearly higher premium. A wide gap in service, such as the bottom of the table, is worth reading before you choose on price alone.
- Send the cancellation so that it arrives by 30 November at the latest, preferably by registered post before mid-November. Pay the arrears that were claimed, or the exit can remain without effect on 31 December.
- Check supplementary policies separately. Their cancellation, deadlines and questionnaire are not those of the basic policy.
Finwise, a brokerage firm in Geneva, can read this list against your file: canton, age, deductible, model, accident cover, basic policy and supplementary policies. Basic advice is free of charge. The decision stays yours, from the official calculator and the contract conditions, not from a national average of CHF 412.
Have my comparison reviewed See health insurance
Sources
- FOPH, press release of 29 September 2026, 2027 premiums up 5.0%, and the PDF.
- FOPH, limited-choice models, categories PRAXIS, TEL_DIG, PHARM and FLEX from 2027.
- Priminfo, 2027 premium calculator, and the 2027 premium overview for cancellation deadlines.
- Comparis, press release of 2 July 2026, satisfaction label, Innofact survey of May 2026.
- bonus.ch, August 2026 satisfaction survey, 5,534 participants, overall scores published on the survey pages. May 2025 survey on the intention to switch insurer.